Letters From Bobby

I liked QUANTUM OF SOLACE a lot. It’s not great, but very enjoyable. Lots of action. Everything moves. Except for Daniel Craig’s facial muscles. I know that James Bond is sad in this sequel, but did he have to go through the whole movie looking like he’s about to pose for Mount Rushmore? Nevertheless, Daniel Craig is gourmet eye candy and a versatile, skilled actor who possesses movie star charisma.

His movie star flavor was quite tasty in LAYER CAKE. In that British modern-day gangster caper from a few years ago, he practically channels the spirit of Steve McQueen. That’s a fun weekend DVD rental. A bearded Craig plays the semi-clad young handyman who’s sexually attracted to a woman very eligible for AARP benefits. That British forbidden love story is called THE MOTHER. Watching that overlooked, dowdy woman spruce herself up and get some spring in her step after getting her groove on once again is quite interesting — especially knowing that she pulled his attention from younger women. Like her grown daughter. Also, I think a must-see Daniel Craig performance is in INFAMOUS. That’s another Truman Capote biopic that came out after the Oscar-winning one starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. CAPOTE is more about the seductive and dangerous intersection of celebrity, entertainment and journalism. That’s crystalized when the writer brings in a famous supermodel photographer (Richard Avedon) to photograph the two men convicted of slaughtering a farm family in Kansas. Capote is writing about the crime. Hoffman’s Capote seeks red carpet celebrity status but the red carpet becomes to him what flypaper is to a fly.

In INFAMOUS, we’re focused on self-deception, truth and how the artist uses truth in the exhausting creative process. To me, this one is better. When I attended the critics’ screening, I told the Warner Bros rep that the studio should’ve launched an Oscar campaign for it. The picture was so quietly released that film-goers didn’t even know it was out. Toby Jones was extraordinary as Truman Capote, resembling the late writer more so than Hoffman did. Also, Sandra Bullock was Best Supporting Actress material for her interpretation of Capote’s best friend and often-annoying voice of truth, To Kill A Mockingbird novelist Harper Lee. Bullock does beautifully understated and touching work as the steel magnolia undramatically at war with herself while tackling injustice and stonewalling for the truth of things. Truman’s jealous that she’s so comfortable in her own skin. She’s a bit jealous that he’s so prolific. Bullock’s performance in INFAMOUS is one of the finest she’s ever given on film and it was grossly overlooked. Daniel Craig is very effective as the more sympathetic of the two killers. Capote and the convict kiss in this one, thus further complicating the writer’s motives for his journalistic novelization of the gruesome murders. Craig’s the poor cowboy killer Robert Blake portrayed so memorably in the film version of Capote’s landmark work, In Cold Blood.

Now, with the major foreign and domestic success of the new James Bond adventure, Daniel Craig has struck career gold. Oh! In it, there’s a visual reference to an iconic moment in GOLDFINGER, starring my favorite Bond, Sean Connery. Just like Bush administration modern times, QUANTUM OF SOLACE has oil-based crimes. It also has a gorgeous Bond girl.

However, I really miss the sass and style of the Sean Connery days and those campy Bond girl names. I can’t recall presently the name of Daniel Craig’s new Bond girl. That’s why I want a return to names like Lotta Booty, Iva Bigrack and Juana DuMee. Those were the days!

My hope is that Sarah Palin can see Barack Obama’s inauguration from her house. What a week of American history we all witnessed!

You have no idea the intense, powerful and silvery feelings of pride, joy, and spiritual rejuvenation that surged through me when Barack Obama was announced as our president-elect at 11:01 pm on Tuesday. For millions of us who remember the Civil Rights Era — the days of famous people like Dr. Martin Luther King, President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Medgar Evers, Cesar Chavez and others fighting for the rights of minorities — this was a week we will never forget. To see an African-American voted to be the next president of the United States was a monumental moment in this nation’s history. When I was in gradeschool, black people were still fighting for the right to vote in this country. That was the 1960s.

How of many of us began conversations that next morning with “I never thought I’d live to see the day….”? I said it. I heard it from my sister, my mother, my aunt — and comedian Michael Richards, formerly of Seinfeld.

How was your week? How did you feel? Leave me a comment and let me know. Have a great weekend.

In October 1992, a new program was in its second month on WNBC/Ch. 4 here in New York City. That local morning news program was called Weekend TODAY in New York. The buzz on it was that it would last for only six months. Tops. At that time, there was no other local hour-long local live news program on any other channel during the weekends. We had no local competition, however insiders felt that we had no audience either.

As fate would have it, two newsworthy things happened that kept our live news crew busy. One was a winter snowstorm. We kept viewers informed of closings and whatnot. The other was the first attack on the World Trade Center. The weekend following that crime, we were able to continue live coverage and break fresh news. That was the weekend that gave the show its voice, its definite image and its format. That was the same weekend the other stations started planning to premiere their own locally-produced live weekend news programs.

When I was one of the original regulars, the attitude was way more casual and the budget quite a bit smaller. Madonna had released a coffeetable book of revealing photos in a pictorial essay called “Sex.” (Before Madge started writing children’s books, she posed buck naked on a highway for this publication. Girl power!) There was a party for the book in downtown Manhattan. I was assigned to do a feature on the kind of Fellini-esque vibe one finds at a Madonna event in Greenwich Village.

It was a media zoo. She showed up. I was determined to get Miss Thing to say something into my WNBC News microphone — because I’d been there for two hours, it was cold, I was hungry, and my feet hurt. Here’s the feature. Forgive the slight hiss in the audio. This piece is so very 1990s. Enjoy.

Madonna with Bobby Rivers

How I love this time of year — watching the colors change in upscale Caucasian faces as the stock market falls. Ah, autumn in New York!

Are you registered to vote? Are you going to vote? If you need assistance, have you made plans to get help getting to your voting booth? The big day is coming up soon. As we all know from the critical condition gripping Uncle Sam’s economy right now, we Americans must vote and vote wisely. That’s our responsibility.

That’s all for now. Check back later. I may post an old news package I did on Madonna when I was one of the original morning team members on a new WNBC News program called Weekend TODAY in New York. Keep warm.

I am so glad today is a federal holiday. Not that I have the day off from work, mind you. In fact, I’m soon to leave for a commercial audition in Newark late this morning. (”Autumn in Newark.” Didn’t Frank Sinatra sing about that?) I’m glad today is a federal holiday because I won’t be getting any bills in the mail. This economy and the job situation have slapped Uncle Sam like he’s a trailer park crack ho.

Yesterday, I caught some of the 24-hour salute to the late Paul Newman on Turner Classic Movies. The movie line-up reminded me so sweetly that, when I was a kid, I went to see Paul Newman movies and really didn’t care what they were about as long as Paul Newman was in them. He was even cool in the lesser films that folks may not even know about — like “The Secret War of Harry Frigg,” “A New Kind of Love,” “What A Way To Go!,” “Slap Shot,” “Pocket Money” and the seriously under-appreciated “Fort Apache, The Bronx.” He will be missed and what a great legacy of charitable work he leaves behind for us to consider. I wish I could have been rich like that so I could have been a mensch with my millions.

On the subject of childhood favorites, another local TV star from my youth is gone. Sportscaster Gil Stratton. He’d started out as an actor in some A-list movies. I knew him as one of the best local sportscasters in Southern California with a highly-recognizable voice. When I was a youngster, he was the weekend host of a Saturday live show from Hollywood Park. Thoroughbred horseracing and movie stars on local CBS TV, then called KNXT. I don’t know how he made the transition from film to TV but he certainly kept himself employed. Back then, on The Million Dollar Movie or The Late Show, it was cool to see the early, gangly Gil Stratton dance with Judy Garland in the “Embraceable You” number in Girl Crazy, act tough with Marlon Brando as a member of his biker gang in The Wild One or endure life with William Holden in a Nazi prison camp called Stalag 17. The other local TV celebs from my L.A. days who passed this year were Chucko the Clown, Engineer Bill, teen pop music show host Lloyd Thaxton, talk show host Les Crane and ultra-conservative L.A. news anchor, George Putnam. Putnam was the basis for Ted Knight’s Ted Baxter character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” We still have talk show hosts and newspeople, but the local kiddie show host seems to be a piece of pop culture that has faded away like the roller skate key. Some of those hosts influenced stuff I did decades later on VH1. Lloyd Thaxton was flat-out fascinating. He added touches of Ernie Kovacs and Steve Allen to the local “American Bandstand” TV show format with dancing teens and pop acts. His show was very visually innovative for local television and it was obvious that he loved his audience. You don’t get that feeling from some network entertainment hosts today.

I wonder if any of my work will be remembered as creative and bright. The thought of that makes me need to work harder. I’m off to my commercial audition callback. Say one for me. Happy Columbus Day. May you find a safe harbor after your physical or emotional voyage.

I just wanted to give you all a festive shout-out and say “La Shana Tova Borgnine!” Happy Jewish New Year! I wish you ripe apples and a taste of honey.

This morning, President Bush pretty much said that he feels our financial pain.

How much further down the rabbit hole does this country have to do before it wakes up? This week, I feel like I have to adjust to life in a new Third World nation.

Maybe there’s a simple, scholarly answer to this but how come the government couldn’t bail out the blue collar auto workers they way it did AIG? If you know, tell me.

I told a few of you that I had an audition last month with an 85 y/o woman. A former actress, she’s the host of an AARP-type cable TV show with lots of good information for seniors. She was seeking a younger male co-host. Thanks to a friend and neighbor, I found out about the auditions (which were held here in Manhattan) and sent in a headshot/resumé. The casting folks contacted me for an audition. Before my appointment, they emailed me that she’d be at the session and to check out her website to see some video clips. In the email were the words “…Suzanne is 85.” On the website, her pics looked more like 65. She resembled actress Betty Buckley. I figured “85″ was a typo. That is, until I walked into the audition room and saw her seated in front of the camera. I didn’t know whether to say “Why you’re Norma Desmond!” or “Where to now, Miss Daisy?”

She was terrific. It may have taken a bit longer for her to get the lines out, but she got them out and we connected. I got a callback in Philadelphia last week. That’s where the show is taped. After the callback, I was one of the three New York-based finalists up for the gig. Last night, I got the email that the co-host spot was filled. They went with a local guy instead. I have a hunch current economic times had a bit to do with the decision. Instead of paying train travel and possible hotel to a New Yorker for the weekly assignment, they can save that money by hiring local talent. But…I was one of the top three from NYC. Ironically, the other two guys were from agencies that both rejected me for representation. So there!

The callback, by the way, broke up the room with laughter. Suzanne and I clicked again, in a bit of a Margaret DuMont/Groucho Marx way. I found her fascinating. She’s made herself employable at 85 and she does a top job with that show. She’s very hip vs hip replacement on the program. Very cool!

Not that I’m a rich guy, but I do have a few bucks for a movie. I’ve been pretty busy job hunting this week and I could go for some screen entertainment. Hard to believe, I still haven’t seen The Dark Knight yet. How I wish I could’ve interviewed Heath Ledger before he left us. That man was an amazing actor, like a young male version of Meryl Streep, and he did quite a lot with his short time down here. That’s a lesson for us all, I think.

Tina Fey of “Saturday Night Live” fame…
Megan Mullally from the sitcom “Will & Grace”….
Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain’s pick as his Vice Presidential running mate.
Which one is which? Frankly, I’m concerned.

The number of people onstage at the Democratic National Convention last night in Denver when a radiant Michelle Obama gave an impressive, inspiring and historical speech as the first Black woman who could become the First Lady: 1 (Michelle Obama)

The number of Black journalists seen on ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN combined as anchors covering that historical live moment in American history on television last night: 0

The closest we got to a minority anchor on a network last night covering the DNL was George Stephanopoulos. Now there’s a story that should be covered by a TV columnist.

I was drained by the time I got home last evening. I got to do another day of comedy work for The Onion. I love doing that work — especially since I was reunited with some of the actors with whom I worked the first time around. Time flew by quickly. The previous ensemble shoot I’d done with them was one year ago. In the production crew, there were many new faces and obviously a new, no frills catering company (hey — let’s not forget we’re in a recession.) Because a year had gone by, the director gave me a lot of specific notes yesterday until I delivered the exact performance he wanted. Grating? Not a bit. Because I have a certain energy, many times my performance has been “just fine” according to the folks around me. That’s mainly because my upbeat personality and ease at reading copy made their job easier. Our director for The Onion realizes that, with rehearsal and direction, I can make some “just fine” turn into something better. I need that and have wanted that as a performer. Yesterday’s work was a big blessing — and not just financially. The scripts were good and challenging.

Tonight, I’ll be watching the Democratic National Convention. You have to admit, history will be made. Even 20 years ago, if Barack Obama and Joe Biden walked into an office together, no one would have expected that they’ be running for the two highest offices in The White House. They would’ve thought Barack and Joe were auditioning to play the Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte characters in a network TV series version of “48 Hours.” In the meantime, I’m off to seek more employment.

If you’re into classic Hollywood, actor Van Johnson is 92 today. I bet his birthday cake tonight looks just like a forest fire. Hopefully, he’ll have a little help blowing out the candles.